SVALBO Hack

March 14, 2012

Andy and I were endlessly searching for the perfect table for the entryway in our apartment. We needed something with at least one shelf for storage but with enough room underneath for tall boots and shoes. And of course, we wanted a budget-friendly option. I’d been keeping my eye on the whole dipped furniture trend and then spotted IKEA’s SVALBO sideboard. Made of pine and only $79.99, SVALBO is a DIY dream. Unfortunately, the SVALBO line has been discontinued, but I recommend any solid pine piece from IKEA. The REKARNE or NORRAKER are great alternatives.

The SVALBO fit all of our requirements except for the lower shelf and side brackets that just make the whole thing look country. Plus, they refuse to accommodate my tall Hunter boots. You’re probably thinking “Just don’t install the shelf, dummy.” Listen, unlike most IKEA furniture, this sideboard comes partially assembled, with the legs and shelf brackets/supports/annoyances already put together. So while it’s easy to just not put the shelf on, there are still two ugly chunks of wood to deal with. And I dealt with them, alright. But first, I primed.

Then I asked my dad for help. I knew he’d know how to solve my bracket problems, because he knows everything. He set up a pair of saw horses and sawed the middle out of the bracket. Next, he wedged the remaining piece of wood away from the legs, exposing two shoddily glued, signature IKEA dowels.

The dowels are a little tricky to remove. You can try pulling them out and you might get lucky, or more likely, they’ll split and crumble. Then, like my dad, you’ll want to take a drill to them.

He drilled to remove as much of the glue and dowel remnants as possible and then switched to a countersink drill bit to get a clean edge. After finishing both sets of legs, he filled the holes with Elmer’s Carpenters Wood Filler in Natural which matched the pine perfectly. It makes more sense to remove the brackets before priming, so if you tackle this project yourself, I recommend doing that first.

Next, I painted over the primer with Behr’s Juicy Passionfruit latex paint. I added Floetrol to the paint, as Centsational Girl recommends, which makes paint go on more smoothly and helps minimize the appearance of brushstrokes. I left everything unassembled for the first and second coats and used a foam roller for the table top and shelf and a brush for everything else. I recommend sanding between coats and using a tack cloth to clean up.

When the second coat was dry, Andy assembled the table and I added some touch up paint. Then, I applied a clear gloss water-based Minwax Polycrylic over the paint. Water-based Polycrylic dries really quickly and won’t yellow over time.

And here it is, all finished and styled up fancy in the entryway. The table and supplies together cost me less than $120.00 and absolutely no heartbreak.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click through and buy, I’ll get a few cents. All opinions on these products are my own – they’re things I’ve actually used, like and recommend!

personally, not a fan of the “dip” thing, but it’s ok… but it would save a lot of time and effort to just saw those dowels flush with the leg, sand the area, maybe a little filler if needed, prime and paint.

I too just saw this on Pinterest and got a little bit excited because I’ve been looking for a simple, affordable table just like this, then I thought it best to check the Ikea website before I got my hopes up because often Ikea in Australia does not stock a lot of the same furniture that is available at Ikea in other countries. Good news is this item is available in Australia… bad news is the table is $179 here! For $80 I would have been willing to risk sawing, drilling, priming and whatever else was required but I don’t know if I’m willing to risk it for more than double that. What a shame :(

Oh no! $100 more seems totally crazy! I’m sorry :(
I bet a piece of second hand furniture would be great for this project too, maybe you could find something nicely priced with a great shape that just needs a little love.
Good luck!

SO stoked to do this… I’m juggling between colors; avacado 70’s green, or that 60’s turquoise, I’d like to do gold legs too… Such a great, clean, modern look with being flirtatious and fun still. Bravo! @Centsational Girl really assisted with the inspiration for me with this project too. Will share how it turns out!

I just bought a very small console table from Walmart to do this project! The Walmart table is a cherry/dark wood. I think I am going to paint the table yellow, a dark coral, or a mintish sky blue. Hmmm decisions decisions.

Any help? these are the exact colors I am going off of (http://pinterest.com/pin/105060603778036656/)
And if it helps my couch is khaki/natural fiber, I have a chair that is going to be that darkest blue, and a side table that is turquoise. The console table will be for my entry way that leads directly into the living room. Thanks in advance!

LOVE this! We are moving (like tomorrow) and our new house is completely different style and I want lots of color and this is so cute! I plan on doing this asap! lets hope I don’t screw it up! fingers crossed!

Oh no! So sad that it’s not on the site anymore. Sometimes if you go to your local Ikea, they’ll still have some in stock or can find out what’s up. I bought mine last year but it was def still for sale a few months ago.

i am in love with this color. nice job!! i was searching on diy furniture painting and ran across this post on your blog. i scored a wall unit of ‘campaign’ style furniture and plan to paint it and was researching hints. off to explore your pretty blog!

I noticed the old metal mail slot door attached to a wooden box on the table. I have wanted to do that for a long time with mine since I even have the combination to the mail slot door. Any details on how you made it or attatched it to the wood box? I would appreciate it!

When I looked at your final picture I had an idea for an alternative piece: paint the unfinished leg portions black to match the black on your wall. The table would seem to “float” on your wall. — Thanks so much for your detailed information & helpful links! I have been wanting to lighten up all the dark woodwork in our living room (in a 1930 bungalow, so
much), but I didn’t know how to paint over the Danish oil finish. Now I do!